My replacement 12 GA SxS showed up a couple of days ago.
As you may recall, the first one shipped to me had some spots on the barrel with bad bluing (actually rusted) and some damage to the toe. Upon returning it I found that Cabela's was completely discontinuing this model, but Cabela's Customer Service was great to work with and they found another out of their Lehi, Utah center to ship to me. Unfortunately this one also had a little damage at the toe (less than the first) from what I assume is people handling it as a demo gun on the floor. But for $120 additional off from the sale price which was already a couple hundred less than I could find the gun for anywhere else, it was a good deal.
Because it's a tad cold and snowy here, I haven't done extensive shooting with it, but it seems to do OK. For those of you with extensive shotgun/patterning experience, perhaps you can chime in and tell me if you think the patterns look acceptable. CAVEAT: I did not have a lot of shots to work up the ultimate load, but did get what I think is a fair load to convince myself that it will shoot well. So I think the pictures of targets below can be improved upon some. In addition, I was not using a rest of any kind.
First, a few pictures of the gun itself. Pretty nice for under $700 bucks new. Great job on the color case hardening...at least I think so.
These first two targets are at 20 yards, one Right Barrel, one Left Barrel. This seemed to be a normal pattern for 90 Gr 2F Goex, 1 1/2 oz #4 Magnum shot, two felt overpowder wads and one overshot card. I tried a number of load combinations and this one gave me the best results so far. X-Full Choke tube installed. The "score" numbers you see written on them are first, number of pellets in head/neck; second, number in the 7 3/4" circle around the head/neck.
The next two are representative for 30 yards, same load as above. I'm not sure what the barrels are regulated for distance, but one can clearly see the bulk of the pattern for the right barrel slightly right of center and the Left Barrel slightly left..though still a plenty dead turkey!!!
Also, I was shooting into a 24" x 22" newpaper backing and on counting holes virtually the entire shot load was on the paper. I don't know what percentage of the load an X-Full choke is supposed to deliver at various ranges, but I believe a full is 70% in a 30" circle at 40 yards, so having all in a roughly 24" circle at 30 yards didn't seem out-of-line to me.
Inputs welcome as I'm really a neophyte when it comes to shotguns and patterning. Never owned a shotgun in my life of any kind.
As many here have said, shooting this thing is a real hoot!
As you may recall, the first one shipped to me had some spots on the barrel with bad bluing (actually rusted) and some damage to the toe. Upon returning it I found that Cabela's was completely discontinuing this model, but Cabela's Customer Service was great to work with and they found another out of their Lehi, Utah center to ship to me. Unfortunately this one also had a little damage at the toe (less than the first) from what I assume is people handling it as a demo gun on the floor. But for $120 additional off from the sale price which was already a couple hundred less than I could find the gun for anywhere else, it was a good deal.
Because it's a tad cold and snowy here, I haven't done extensive shooting with it, but it seems to do OK. For those of you with extensive shotgun/patterning experience, perhaps you can chime in and tell me if you think the patterns look acceptable. CAVEAT: I did not have a lot of shots to work up the ultimate load, but did get what I think is a fair load to convince myself that it will shoot well. So I think the pictures of targets below can be improved upon some. In addition, I was not using a rest of any kind.
First, a few pictures of the gun itself. Pretty nice for under $700 bucks new. Great job on the color case hardening...at least I think so.
These first two targets are at 20 yards, one Right Barrel, one Left Barrel. This seemed to be a normal pattern for 90 Gr 2F Goex, 1 1/2 oz #4 Magnum shot, two felt overpowder wads and one overshot card. I tried a number of load combinations and this one gave me the best results so far. X-Full Choke tube installed. The "score" numbers you see written on them are first, number of pellets in head/neck; second, number in the 7 3/4" circle around the head/neck.
The next two are representative for 30 yards, same load as above. I'm not sure what the barrels are regulated for distance, but one can clearly see the bulk of the pattern for the right barrel slightly right of center and the Left Barrel slightly left..though still a plenty dead turkey!!!
Also, I was shooting into a 24" x 22" newpaper backing and on counting holes virtually the entire shot load was on the paper. I don't know what percentage of the load an X-Full choke is supposed to deliver at various ranges, but I believe a full is 70% in a 30" circle at 40 yards, so having all in a roughly 24" circle at 30 yards didn't seem out-of-line to me.
Inputs welcome as I'm really a neophyte when it comes to shotguns and patterning. Never owned a shotgun in my life of any kind.
As many here have said, shooting this thing is a real hoot!
